Arrests, Suicides Continue in Vienna; 54 Funerals in Day

March 22, 1938

VIENNA (Mar. 21)

Nazi storm troopers paraded an “Aryan” woman through Vienna’s streets today for buying from a Jewish shop, while arrests and suicides of Jews continued.

Pouncing on the woman as she left a Jewish store on the Taborstrasse in the Jewish quarter, brownshirts hung a sign, “only Aryan Swine buy from Jews,” around her neck and marched her through the streets for fifteen minutes, pulling down her hands when she tried to hide her face.

(An aged rabbi was attacked by Nazi youths who shaved off his beard, according to reports reaching London.)

The impact of the past week’s developments on the Jewish community is revealed by the fact that 54 Jewish funerals were held here yesterday. The average Jewish mortality normally is 6 to 8 daily. Suicides and death from shock of elderly people contributed to the toll.

(The world Jewish congress reported in Geneva that 140 Jews committed suicide in Vienna in the past four days.)

Dr. Jacob Ehrlich, the only Jewish member of the Vienna town council, was arrested. It was learned that the Jewish community leaders arrested in the past few days are being held in the Rossauer Laende police prison. Dr. Desider Friedman, president of the Austrian Zionist organization, is charged with contributing to ex-chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg’s election fund, and Josef Loewenherz, executive director of the Vienna Jewish community, is accused of destroying a list of Jewish contributors.

Storm troopers continued to round up Jews, forcing them to scrape Schuschnigg slogans off the streets. This morning a truckload of Jewish youth were taken to the Nazi brown house.

The Deutsche Telegraf, in a single sentence, evokes a picture of what happened to Jewish morale: “Among the thousands on thousands taking advantage of yesterday’s marvelous spring weather, no Jews were to be seen.”